It’s a little-known fact that the Pentagon has for years directly influenced the production of a wide variety of television programming. In fact, in instances where the producing companies are accessing military hardware, the Department of Defense requires approval of the scripts, a process which can result in line-by-line edits by the government of film and television plots and dialogue.

SpyCulture.com’s Tom Secker filed a series of Freedom of Information Act requests with various branches of the military, seeking information about how often and to what extent the Department of Defense coordinates with programming. The results are revealing. Secker’s FOIA produced over 1,400 pages of documents from the Army’s Entertainment Liason Office and another 100 pages from the US Air Force’s office.

The documents reveal coordination not only on the type of programming we’ve come to expect—e.g. military war films— but also well-watched programs from numerous genres. For example, this entry on “American Idol,” where a contestant with a military background is referred to as a PSYOP specialist (meaning psychological operations) who was “unfortunately voted off of the show”:

For example, there is this entry on American Idol, where a contestant with a military background is referred to as a PSYOP Specialist.

Photo Credit:

SpyCulture

Click to enlarge.

Another covers how the military influenced the blockbuster hit The Avengers, providing input they said the producers were “very receptive” toward with respect to one character, Captain America, and his relationship with the Army:

Another covers how the military influenced the blockbuster hit The Avengers.